Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Fail Day! Not to mention the last one of the year at that. So really there was only one thing I could possibly think of to do for Fail Day today. You see some people call themselves gamers, but they just play Call Of Duty 12 hours of day sitting in their mother's basement. So really let's see who does and doesn't fail at gaming this past year.

You Fail At Gaming In 2013 If...

You don't remember the whole "used game issue"

You have not learn the joys of the life of a pirate

A smile isn't put on your face upon hearing "Holy Shit Joel"

You were unaware there was a new generation of Consoles

You don't know what all of this Warlords Of Draenor thing is all about.

You didn't bare witness to the death of Arcturus Mengsk

The phrase "Bigger maps will not be available" means nothing to you

You didn't catch the name change of Final Fantasy Verus to Final Fantasy XV

You didn't know this game called "Rift" went Free to Play

You didn't know Blizzard made this card game called Hearthstone which turns minutes of playtime into days

You don't miss Aiden

You still don't know how awesome Esports is

You don't know how Blizzard finally decided on the name of their MOBA

You have never heard of this game call GTAV and all those sales records it broke

You were not aware of the Uncharted Series coming to PS4

and finally

You have used this year to stock up on all things to sell on the RMAH for when Reaper Of Souls comes out.

There you have it. Hope you all enjoyed it. Once again thank you all for the support this year and every year before. Here is to another great year ahead.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Well here we are on the last Monday of the year meaning the last Machinima Monday of the year. I was really thinking hard what I should showcase today. Now what I chose may not be the best music video you will ever see, but what it is gives us a look back at not only the greatest game of the past year but maybe in the history of gaming. That is right this is a Music video of The Last of Us. Sit back and remember or wonder why you haven't played it yet.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Sunday! Not to mention the last Sunday of the year. What a crazy year it has been. To think I thought for so long to get the blog started up again. Sure it is a lot of work, but I also have a lot of fun doing it. All of you keeping me on my toes making sure when I push some buttons you never let me forget it. So let's get this last Ask Gauss of the year over with.

What do you think was the biggest surprise of the year?

Honestly, I think it is the shutdown of the auction houses in Diablo III. They put so much into it. They wanted to give players an easy trading option with in game currency, bu then also didn't want 3rd party sites making money off of their game and scamming their customers. So they put all this time making this revolutionary Real Money Auction House. The problem which they recognized is people were able to get top end gear much quicker than they should have been able to. Caused this shift where they had to develop a Monster power system to actually make the game have some sort of difficulty. In the end they shocked us all and said no more Auction houses in Reaper of Souls. Meaning also no more trading. I like the route the game is going now but still doesn't mean after all that time and effort put in I thought they would scrap it.

What is something you learned about the gaming world this year?

People are getting more and more entitled. They want everything given to them for free and really Hearthstone has brought this to light more than any game I can remember, and it is still in beta. You see just because you play a game you don't deserve to have everything. There was a time where it was considered the norm to not be able to finish a game. You would feel proud and accomplished when you actually did it. The sense of accomplishment was there. Now there is this mentality of everyone wins. Sure there are difficulty settings to still have the challenge but when there isn't when you actually have to work at something people complain because there are used to this entitlement crap that has been going around. I am sorry if you are bad live with being bad. Don't try and ruin others experiences because you want to feel like you deserve more. Makes me sick that some of these people call themselves gamers.

Did you have a good Christmas?

As a matter of fact I did. Hoping for an even better New Year

There you have it all questions answered. Thank you to everyone who has sent in questions this year. I enjoy answering them if they are troll or not.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Happy Saturday everyone. Hope your Christmas was fantastic. Mine was, until the Doctor Who Christmas special aired. Then I ended up having to change my shirt because I cried all over it. It was torture watching Matt Smith regenerating. UGH! So far, I haven't heard anything on my ticket about my Joker Wardrobe. Yes, i'm pissed off about it. But what can I do. RAH! I don't know how much of you are into Batman but... I LOVE HIM. Deathstroke is pretty badass as well. In my opinion Arkham Origin's fight between the two was the best boss fight in all of gaming (2013). Mostly, because of the lore behind it. They really did an amazing job.

With this new year on it's way, I plan on becoming even more of an elitist. I blame Gauss...Happy New year everyone.Be safe!-Safiree

Friday, December 27, 2013

Here we are a couple days after Christmas and the "Madness" known as Boxing Day. This being the last Reader Post of the Year I was trying to find one which I thought was interesting and had a good fit to the end of a year or a new start. That is when I came by this one written by Enkhryphor which relates evolution in Warcraft universe specifically C'thun. So here it is

Based on the theory of evolution, Life Azeroth was nonexistent, and over the years thousands of unicellular life forms were appearing in oceans, rivers and lakes, places with water in general. And one of the places where unicellular forms of life appeared was in the well of eternity.Evolution of unicellular forms near/away the Well of EternityAs we know , water is the basis of evolution, without water there's no life and without life there's no evolution. With an extremely diverse life in Kalimdor, some microorganisms evolved into diverse forms of life with their own specialties. Over the thousands/millions of years , lifeforms that grew inside the Well of Eternity were able to grow faster and stronger since the Well " pulls " its energy from the infinite Great Dark Beyond. The Well acted as a mystical fount , sending its potent energies across the world to nourish life in all its wondrous forms and just as we have dogs and wolves , cats and lions , some forms of life evolved to a negative state ( i don't want to use "dark side"/evil or similar ), because during their period of evolution their bodies specialized in consume the Well energy and some of the energy corrupted the process of evolution in some levels ( think it like people get cancer for eating/using shit ) . Some variations of the corrupted evolution now can be named as the Silithid . The Energy consumption of the well by the Silithid started to slow since at the early stages they developed legs and wings which allowed then to move thru away land. Some of then, returned from time to time to drink water of the Well, which allowed then to evolve to a superior biological form, the Qiraji. And a Few portion of those forms, by instinct "chose" to stay on the pool, feeding their specialized organisms (already corrupted ) with energy.Evolution of C'ThunThis theory could be use to create the base of the origin of the "first old God" C'Thun in S. As an organism that kept growing as a "Magical Evil Cancer" along many millions of years with the advantage of some of his parts at his early evolution state developed a abnormal feeding system, which allowed his organism to absorb more energy than needed. That allowed and near impossible evolution rate of this species(Other organisms with that feeding system anomaly would have existed, but they where consumed by the strongest one, until just one left. With the advantage of being the strongest of all, no other could match his power) and granting him an strong advantage among the others.An important note. I don't have the knowledge of who called C'Thun the "First Old God", But i'm assuming since this "organism" was the first one on Azeroth to have so much power, The Titans gave him this title. Since no other living creature on that planet could match his power.

Like I said an interesting take maybe mostly to me because I enjoy this sort of thing, but maybe you learned something as well.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Happy Boxing Day or should I say happy mindless shopping? I actually had a great time spending time with my family. Doesn't happen often when a lot of us get together because there is so many of us, but when we do it is quite an event. That though isn't what I want to talk about. You see I was playing Hearthstone the other day and I was playing a warrior deck which can basically be a one turn kill if you play it correctly. It works out like this. At least for the "super hit"

Play a both Giants for free(since you have 10 health) attack since you have charge with commander

Play both Brewmasters and return the Giants to your hand and attack with the Brewmasters

Play one of the Giants again for free and attack him

This works out to 8+8+3+3+8 = 30 damage meaning a 1 turn kill.

Now I was doing this and then this random person sent me a Friend Request and this happened.

Let's just say they were angry. Now I know this is a gimmick and will probably be adjusted in the future, but the simple way to deal with it is to realize they are doing it. And don't let them get to 10 Health.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas everyone! For those who don't celebrate Christmas well a Merry Christmas to you too! Now with today being Wednesday and being all about lists and it being Christmas I figured I would make a list of my top 5 favourite Christmas gifts gamer wise as far back as I can possibly remember. Now this may date me but who the hell cares it is Christmas!

5. Castlevania III Dracula's Curse

Way back in a time when games were fun even though they were stupid hard I woke up Christmas morning to open this game. I played it to death not only that day but for years afterwards. An extremely difficult game which was tons of fun. I played adventure games before this one namely the previous Castlevania games but this is the game which truly made me love them.

4. Beanbag Gamer Chair

So this was a gift when I saw it there under the tree I was just excited because it was the biggest gift there. When you are a kid even a big kid the biggest gift being yours is a thing of beauty. Such a simple gift which made me feel like I was awesome. We would have competitions just to see who would get to sit in the chair. Before it bit the dust it was busted open distorted it all kinds of places but it was still my chair and it was still awesome.

3. NBA Street Vol. 2

So let me first say I am not really a fan of basketball or NBA games in general. So upon opening this I was unsure. After playing it I realized it wasn't anything remotely close to a real basketball game. You were more concerned with doing all these crazy tricks and the score just ended up being the thing which ended the game. And how could we ever forge the announcer

2. NHL 94

This game start a tradition. I received the newer addition of this game year after year. It almost became the thing. I never had to ask for the new NHL it just happened regardless. Love my hockey and love my Leafs and this just always fit.

1. Starcraft

I was always a gamer before this but this is the game that got me really seriously into gaming. It was competitive and I have always been an extremely competitive person. I thrived in this environment and this game is the reason I am the gamer I am today. So you can thank my father for purchasing this for me. Now if only I can one day actually explain to him how to play it.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Fail Day and a Merry Christmas Eve to all you people who celebrate Christmas and insert "blah blah blah" to all the people I am supposed to be politically correct to. Christmas Eve. Crazy time this time of year is even for us gamers. Sometimes as gamers we fail to get in the spirit of the holidays so that is what this Fail Day is all about. So sit back and have a laugh at yourself.

You Fail At Being In The Christmas Spirit As A Gamer If...

This will cause your dailies to not to be completed on a series of days

One of your teammates will be gone fore the holidays

There is no new games coming out you are interested in playing

The new games you are interested in playing are coming out for a system you do not yet own

You received the game you wanted but it was for Xbox instead of Playstation

You have no excuse as to why you cannot go to such and such house so you can stay home and game

Had to get people gifts instead of renewing your game subscription

The servers went down and there is no one to repair them because they are at home enjoying the holidays

You suffer a wrist injury from the constant playing of Wii Sports

The words "Let's play Kinnect it's fun" have ever been said while you are in the room

Some of your family members are die hard Halo fans

You have yet to finish such and such a game but don't worry everyone has the spoilers for you

You have to explain why Esports is a thing

All of your family tends to ask "What are you wasting your time on now?"

and finally

Christmas falls on a Raid Night and you are up for loot

There you go this week's edition of Fail. Hope you all had a good laugh. Merry Christmas once again to all of you.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Happy Monday everyone hard to believe it is only a couple of days until Christmas so hard to be that it is Monday. Being Monday means though it is time for Machinima Monday. Now over the years I have loved Ian Beckman's videos nothing more so than the Azerothian Super Villains which I have showcased here many times. When I saw this Warlord's of Draenor Jingle Bells though I almost died laughing. It truly is that awesome. So sit back and get ready to laugh even more so if you know the back story of all the Orcs.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sunday and didn't this week go by crazy fast. Not even the week this year didn't it? Seems like just the other day I started the blog up again and here we are starting the week of Christmas. Crazy stuff really. Everyone got some plans for the holidays? Keeping yourself busy some way or another? Even with all of this going on it still is Sunday so it does mean we have some questions to answer. So here goes.

Did you watch the Heroes Of The Storm Q&A? What are your thoughts?

Yes I did watch it and the biggest thing I saw in the Q&A was the excitement from the art director. I don't think anyone can argue Blizzard has some wonderful and amazing art throughout their games. From armor sets in WoW to worlds in Starcraft to dungeons in Diablo. So when these artist that we enjoy seeing the things they create are excited about making art for a game.

The game itself we learned really nothing new from it besides that they want to create more specialist heroes. To me more heroes is better so that is a plus in my book. Not to mention they want it make the game fully integrated socially which at the moment is the major reason it is not into beta at them moment. Now they were resistant to give a beta release date but I suspect it will be out into beta by February don't know why just have a feeling.

Mage nerfs in Hearthstone your thoughts?

To me I always thought Cone of Cold should have been 4 mana just seems a little bit too cheap for what it did. The frost nova change is more of a push to people using arcane explosion which I still think is an awful spell the way it is. I would almost love it to see a cost increase and do 2 damage across the board but not sure it will happen. The Blizzard change is the biggest change to me and is the reason I think mages will decline in popularity. Well control mages at least are you going to have 2 blizzards and 2 flamstrikes or just 2 flamestrikes and get some other minions? The change they didn't make I think is the best one they didn't touch Pyroblast, Sure it does 10 damage but that is all it does and a mage has to get to that point to use it. By nerfing the control effects they pretty much made 2 pyroblasts in a deck very hard to pull off.

What do you want for Christmas?

My friends Hardcore characters in Diablo not to die.

There you have it this week's questions answered. Hope you all got something out of it. Enjoy what is left of your weekend.

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Happy Saturday everyone :) My week has been crazy. Believe it or not, I went raiding with my guild the other night (in Rift, not WoW). First time i've raided since doing it with Gauss and Three Score. I was so nervous lol. Then once things got going, I rediscovered why I stopped raiding in the first place rather quickly. These days i'm so much more ADHD with gaming lol. Being tied down to a raid group for hours on end definitely isn't my thing anymore. Also, was our guilds first raid. Me and most others don't even PVE much in Rift. I'm all about pvping, and ruining other peoples days. All things considered, we did pretty great picked up learning the fights rather quickly, and progressed along with each mistake that was made. So good on us Veridian Dynamic. Also, shame on you Rift. Everytime I turn around there is something that looks way too similar to WoW. Triumph of the Dragon Queen(raid) looked almost exactly like Ulduar. Although, that is what most gaming companies do. Nothing original just the same concept but with a tweak to the stories. Guess I expect too much. Found out that Reaper of Souls will be coming out 2 days before my birthday. March 25th, anyone else so uncontrollably excited for this? I certainly am :D Fae Yule event in Rift is by far greater than the Christmas events in WoW. In my opinion that is. There is this huge mountain you can sled down, and run over snowmen on the way down. This probably excites me more than it should lol. I made Gauss log on to try it out and he said I was retarded. So there's that. LOL. I'm not sure, if you guys know but in Rift, you can build up your own wardrobe from sets they sell in the Rift store or even just random gear you find. I wanted to finish off my Joker outfit but couldn't because in Rift female characters get to choose between only a skirt, or a dress. Here and there you might come across some pants. I can't buy the suit that I need! So, I opened a ticket. "How am I supposed to rampage Gotham city in a wedding garb? Why is it that I can't access the tuxedo?! Also note, no i'm not a lesbian. I just have no life" So we'll see where that ticket gets me haha. Hope you guys have the best Christmas! Hope this one brings you all the joy you desire.Love, Safiree

Friday, December 20, 2013

So today was going to be the reader post, but there was some big news yesterday that I feel needs to be talked abut. Reaper of Souls has a release date. March 25 2014. Now I would love to point out I was right that it was the week after the Auction Houses were shutting down but I believe anyone could have made that prediction. So why is this big news then you ask? The collectors edition has something interesting stated in it. 3 additional character slots. Now anyone currently in RoS beta can see the amount of character slots is 12. This would mean 2 for every class in whatever combination you desire. Soft and hardcore or male and female to name a few. Why is this 3 character slots a big deal? Well so many people are up in arms about getting the collectors edition being an advantage.

My first thought was, what?

How is this an advantage and forcing those who don't want to buy a collectors edition to buy one? It is not. It is just something extra just like everything else you are getting. Maybe I could see the argument if the auction house was still a thing and you could use it for storage. It's not so you really can't use that excuse. It is just an extra perk that isn't game changing that really some people will never use in the first place.

The other thing I have heard is it is $40 and this is too much for one Act and 1 new class. Maybe it is but this is the standard price for expansions now and really breaking it down to just that with all the new loot and the systems just to make it seem like you are not getting your money worth is kind of stupid to me.

The way I see it. Diablo III is a game I still love to play with others or simply by myself and I will be purchasing this and will enjoy it just as much as those complaining about all of these things.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

For those of you who didn't watch it it is a reveal or tour of Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns. Now I can say the game looks great. Well polished and a story which seems will be a great ending to the Lightning Saga. I have no complaints at all about it. So you might ask yourself what is this post about?

Well when wat ching this video I thought to myself. Is this really the end of the classic turn based RPGs? This game to me is more of a ARPG is it not? Now I love ARPGs but Final Fantasy has always been its own thing. A game which is masterful for what it is and what it has been. Does this mean Final Fantasy is leaving the turn based style behind for the future? Who knows, but if so what would this mean? Maybe the most iconic series in gaming will be going through a major change. Am I ok with this? I think I am ok with it but I am not saying it wouldn't be weird. I will say it was funny them advertising a game where a character could jump. If it was any other game people would laugh and say WTF. In Final Fantasy this is a big deal. Like I said funny and a weird thing at the same time.

I for one am excited not only for this game but for what the future will bring to this series in the future. What do you all think is this massive change an end to an era of gaming that has spanned decades or is this just a game which is a change from the norm?

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Here we are on yet another Wednesday, and one does not simply have a Wednesday without a list now do we? So when thinking about what to have a list about this week I had a few thoughts. Then of course I had a bunch of emails requesting that I the one complaining about others choices of Game of the Year should make my own list. Well dammit then I will so here we go.

5. Grand Theft Auto V

You see there are these people who think I hate Grand Theft Auto. That is actually completely wrong and has nothing to do with me not choosing it for a game of the year. I just don't think it is better than the other games on this list and if you do then I would venture you to tell me why.

4. Starcraft II: Heart Of The Swarm

Now some would say and expansion shouldn't be considered for game of the year. Maybe they are right but this is my list so really doesn't matter what others think. Not only does it have one of the most competitive multiplayer systems in the world, but it also has an extremely well done story which gets you pumped up for the next installment.

3. Bioshock Infinite

The game that in any other year would be my game of the year. This is coming from someone who doesn't overly enjoy the genre, but is stil lable to appreciate everything this game brings. One thing I will note is I hated this series after Bioshock 2 basically pissed me off to no end with its disappointments.

2. Assassin's Creed Iv Black Flag

The game which had a lot to prove. Since the 3rd installment was a good game but wasn't great. Many believe that the series was passed its prime. Black flag proved all these people wrong with something which is special in every way. I may even hate the multiplayer but it takes nothing away from this game.

1. The Last Of Us

This is not only the game of the year but is the best game I have ever had the pleasure of playing. A story which is nothing short of a masterpiece. It has everything you could ever want in a game besides the fact that once you have play it there is an end. If only the game lasted forever.

There you go my list for game of the year. Agree or disagree tell me why.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Fail Day! So this Fail Day post is really just about my frustration. My frustration at people who think they know anything about gaming who are incharge of voting or just picking games of the year. Honestly this really doesn't need much lead in so let's do thing thing

You Fail At Voting For Game Of The Year If...

You ever thought about or ever did vote for an Xbox exclusive

You ever thought about any game in the Call of Duty franchise being the it

You believe extremely well written stories are nothing to write home about

You believe the the best maybe ever the best game ever made doesn't deserve game of the year

You dislike Final Fantasy 7 so therefore you recognize nothing it did for gaming

You believe Halo is awesome

You think League of Legends requires more skill than Starcraft

You dislike Diablo III because it was the cool thing to do

You don't appreciate backgrounds and music within the setting of the game

You have no idea what the sound sounds like in the game you voted for because you always turn the sound off

Monday, December 16, 2013

Monday! Why am I so excited you ask? Well it is time for me to showcase one of my favourite machinima and holiday songs once again. That's right there is no pointless babble in order to intro the topic. You see Greatfather Winter is amazing because even though winter veil is a WoW thing this is almost a gamer anthem to the holidays. Also it may have the best line in music "something violet something loud something to disperse a crowd".Truly one of Cranius' best among so many amazing songs. So get ready here it is.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Sunday! How has everyone's weekend been? I saw the new Hobbit on Friday was actually pretty good. There was some variance from the book but it wasn't done in a way which made it worse so I was actually ok with it. I know some people will be all over it saying that why did they do that OMG. If you haven't seen it take my word for it that it was done well. With all of this in mind it is Sunday which means I have some questions to answer. So here goes.

What are your thoughts on the new Hearthstone ranking system?

I actually like it. With the old system what did those ranks and stars actually mean. Sure there was this hidden MMR which was going on and that is all well and good, but you would be sitting there waiting for a rank up and wondering what exactly you had to do. It is one of the major flaws of the SC2 ranking system and I guess they didn't want that going on here. The simple you win and you gain a star and lose and you lose one makes it simple and easy to understand. So ya I like it a lot.

What is with GTAV winning all these game of the year things?

Honestly I don't know. I am not saying GTAV is a bad game because it is not. What I am saying is that it isn't that innovative and it isn't even close in terms of Quality to the Last of Us. Honestly I think Assassin's Creed IV, Bioshock Infinite, and Heart of the Swarm are 3 other games which are clearly better than GTAV. I just think this proves just like movies and music that the award shows they really have no idea what they are talking about. There is no way anyone could argue GTAV is a better game than The Last of Us and honestly I would love to hear from the people who actually thought it was, because honestly I feel it would be hilarious.

I need a new snack while I am eating suggestions?Cashews can never go wrong with cashews.

There you have it this week's questions answered. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and remember the Christmas rush is upon us!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope your week was a great one, and your weekend is greater. Lately I've been PVP obsessed. I have this weird itch to want to just go through everyone else like it's nothing. I'm very competitive. We played our Hardcore Diablo 3 characters. I thought we were safe, so I tabbed out to change a song on spotify and died. Oh well, right? lol it's only hardcore with very expensive gems socketed into my gear.

The Elder Scrolls Online - War on Cyrodill.

Anyone anticipating this MMO? I think it's a great idea. The video was beautiful.

"Regardless of the platform you choose, your online adventures will be here before you know it. As you plan out which alliance you join, watch our all-new gameplay trailer showcasing PvP combat and how you will be able to battle with and against your friends in Cyrodiil." -Bethesda

This Saturday is short and sweet. Hope you all have the best weekend and be safe.

Friday, December 13, 2013

So I have been playing a lot of Hearthstone lately. I actually like the new ranking system that they have put in. It is rewarding and fun. I also like the change to allow for more arena wins. I got to 9 wins a couple times and I I always wanted to see how far I could go. Now I have the chance. With all of this in mind a lot of the players in the Hearthstone community have been complaining about "the mage" how you cannot beat the mage, how it is unfair. Now I am of the group where sure there could be some tweaking to things but for the most part when I lose to a mage I either did something stupid and should have lost, or I happened to get a bad draw. So with it being the Reader Post I decided to go with a post from Vatenkeist have a read and breathe

So, we’re kind of at a point now where the cards aren't overpowered, but people have figured out how to play and we know what is dominant. Cards don’t need to be changed when something is dominant, there always has to be something that is the winner. Mage isn't unbeatable, it’s only recently that these forums are lighting up about it... All of these cards were in place after the first patch and no one complained about the deck (because no one, minus a handful of people noticed it), everyone complained about priest instead. That is a great example of the term “flavor of the month”, which I believe this situation is. Mages are played in a variety of ways right now, and they have 2 really strong builds (neither of them are unbeatable). Now that everyone is seeing that mage is popular it’s time to make your deck to beat the mage deck if you are so inclined, this is called meta gaming. For most card games you don’t ban/change something every time a deck becomes dominant. Because, if we change something with mages now, then within a week afterwards there will be more complaining about something else and cries to change it, that practice is considerably less fun that actually playing against priest or the mage control deck in it of its self. We’re finally at the point where everyone has explored all the cards, so we kind of need to accept things until another set of cards comes to hopefully spice things up and keep things fresh and create new decks. It’s tough to accept and realize that people need to put up with the hype and the angst directed toward mage right now and just wait for new things. People have gone so far as to make forum threads talking about adding diminishing returns to effects… That is the last thing anyone should do. It’s in extremely poor taste to do something like that! You don’t want to have a hidden clause that isn't readily apparent. I imagine scenarios where new players play frost nova and then attempt to again and are shocked to see it doesn't work because no one reads a buff/aura something on the minions stating they can’t be frozen again, horrible. Also such a change effects under 10 cards, which just seems like a waste of time for something so intricate of a implementation. I feel like we don’t need to see any changes, other than getting story mode soon J which will give us more cards. There is at least one deck out there that stone cold beats mages 95% of the time, some people are adapting and I’m glad to see it. Any changes to mage now just affect ranked play (there isn't even prizes yet) and do nothing for arena, and therefore are not needed imho. Give it a shot, try new things and have fun!

Thank you once again to everyone who submitted something. Enjoy your weekend and The Hobbit movie I know I will be.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Let me say first that I am a huge fan of Esports. Now I don't like every game from a spectator point of view but I understand what some of these professionals have to go through on a daily basis. It may seem like a nice and easy life, but there is struggle within it. That is part of the reason I have respect for each and everyone of them. Even the CoD players. I know i know I said that.

These pros stream constantly to work on their craft and to just have some fun while making some money to hep support themselves. Now I know it is not just me but I love to see gamers especially professional ones play games they are not so pro at. To me it just shows gamers will be gamers. With all of this in mind I just have to say one thing.

WTF RIOT?

Now why you ask? Well Riot the creators of League of Legends has told made the players who compete in the Legends Championship Series(LCS) that they cannot stream not only competing games but some games which make absolute sense. Basically if a LoL player says streams World of Warcraft they are considered in breach of contract, because it makes so much sense to ban MOBA players from playing MMOs.

You see I can understand DOTA2 or even Starcraft II these would be their main competitors but why all these other games, and why all Blizzard games in particular? Is Riot afraid? They relate it to say hockey players sponsored by Nike wearing Reebok shoes. To me this is bullshit since that would be telling a Hockey player they cannot play basketball in if a camera ends up filming them.

To me Riot wants to make sure by forcing their players to only play their game. No pro gamer is going to play a game not on stream because that is how they make their income. I just think this is going to backfire on them and these players are going to end up leaving and going to something with more freedom. After all if you are not happy in your job you look for a new one.

Am I wrong thinking this is wrong of them to do such a thing? Should they be happy they are getting paid by Riot and suck it up? What do you all think?

If you are interested in reading the article about the whole thing you can see it here or you can watch Totalbiscuit's rant about it in the video below.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

So here we are waiting for Friday to all go see the new Hobbit movie. So in thinking about this with today being Wednesday I thought what better topic could I come up for this week's list then the best Dragons in gaming. Now there are many awesome dragons and this was actually more difficult then I actually thought it would be when I started to list them off to myself and found out my list needed to be trimmed down quite a bit. So with that in mind here are my choices for the best dragons in gaming.

5. The Divine Dragon - Legend of the Dragoon

The was something just simply epic and awe inspiring about the divine dragon. Not to mention the fact that he was a total bitch of a boss when you were just learning and he was even an ass when you knew what you were doing. Then of course when you got to use his powers there was nothing more satisfying then "DIVINE DRAGON CANNON"

4. Spyro - Spyro Series

Spyro might not be scary or evil but is definitely one of the most iconic dragons in all of gaming. Older gamers will recognize him in all of his PS1 glory days while the younger crowd will know him in the handheld glory. Spyro shows you don't have to be a vicious killing machine to be awesome.

3. Bahamut - Final Fantasy Series

A staple in the Final Fantasy series he always makes a grand entrance. There is nothing quite as terrifying as a Megaflare about to rain down on you or when you are in control nothing more fist pumping. Even non Final Fantasy fans have to agree this guy is worth mentioning.

2. Alduin - Skyrim

Skyrim is full of Epic dragons but when your name is "the world eater" you are just a cut above the rest of them. This dragon has godlike powers and really just wants to detroy the entire world.He is always trash talking you and constantly fighting until you have that final rage inducing showdown.

1. Deathwing - Warcraft Series

There are dragons and then their is Deathwing. He used to be one of the most revered dragons in all of creation but fell into madness caused by the old gods. He is not only a massive being that cause unless destruction but he has the mind to defeat his foes even by outsmarting them to trick them into being involved in his plans. Sure he was eventually taken down but nothing will ever change my mind on his epicness.

There you have it my best dragons. As always agree or disagree let me know.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Fail Day! Yes it is that time of the week again. It also is that time of the year where we go out and by Christmas gifts. If you don't celebrate Christmas and this offends you well honestly I am offended by you being offended. So you should feel bad. Anyways, Christmas Gifts we give them out once a year and as gamers we know what a gamer wants. One of the worst things growing up for me was being asked what I wanted for Christmas, in fact that still does suck. So I was just list a couple things but then there was always things that when you go them whoever got it for you looked right at you waiting in anticipation for your reaction and sometimes you really wish you could just facepalm. That is what today's post is all about so enjoy!

You Fail At Buying Gifts For Gamers If...

Hello Kitty Island Adventure was ever on your radar

You bought a newspaper article of Xbox One for over $700

You thought it would be perfectly fine to use a Playstation disc in their PC

Your knowledge of EA sports gaming years is not up to par

You thought that Guitar Hero game came with that guitar in that little tiny box

You think Kinect is fun

You believe the Wii U is the console of the future

You some how messed up "Steam Gift Card"

You picked up the game the sales person said "all the kids were playing"

Monday, December 9, 2013

MONDAY! The caps were to wake you up. Did it work, Hopefully. Now that the standard Monday groaning and all that crap is out of the way time to talk about this week's showcase. Now last week I showcased a video by AFK Players which was marvelously done and my be one of the best Machinima I have ever seen. This week I just couldn't resist showing part two to the epic part one. Now first off the second part is not nearly the masterpiece of the first but it is worth the watch nonetheless. It has a much lighter side and time travel and who doesn't love time travel? With that in mind here is Just Another Summer Night

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Sunday wow the week and the weekend flew by didn't it? Not to mention the weather around here couldn't decide what the hell it wanted to do and therefore it seemed to be a week of endless headaches. Also had a sad moment on Friday night Ifeelitcky, Khulk's hardcore Barbarian, died to unknown causes sad times indeed. It is Sunday though so the show must go on which means answering some questions which have been sent in so here goes.

So it is December your thoughts on Games of the Year?I really don't think there is a question on what was the game of the year. The Last of Us may actually be the game of a generation or even the game of a lifetime. With that in mind there has been some great games this year. Bioshock Infinite has got a lot of praise and although I have not played it as I was quite upset on the path the series took in Bioshock 2 I will believe what people have said. Assassin's Creed IV has really surprised a lot of people. Who knew being a pirate and an Assassin could really be that fun. Also even with all of that the story in the game is pretty amazing as well. Let's also not forget Heart of the Swarm which as an avid Starcraft fan this is a game that not only continues to bring me countless hours of entertainment in Multiplayer but the often forgotten single player was brilliantly done. So if I had to pick I think those would be my 3 non the Last of Us games.Do you ever stream?Currently no. I have been asked and have been thinking about it for quite awhile. I am not sure exactly what would be streaming but I think that would be the fun part wouldn't it? There are plenty of hilarious moments which happen while I am gaming which I think many of you would enjoy so if you are interested in me doing so just send me a message with what you want to see and maybe we will get to making this happen.Really though what is the reason you hate Xbox so much?This is jsut like asking me why I hate Apple it's because it's a Xbox.

There you go questions answered for the week. Hope you all got something out of it some way or another. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Happy Saturday everybody :) Hope your week was great. I've been pvp grinding.... Nothing much else. VGU awards 2013 happened. Troy Baker was crowned best voice actor of the year. I'd say this is very much earned, given his role as the Joker, and Joel were literally performances that won't be easily forgotten.

Not to mention, EYE CANDY for days :DGauss showed me a video of Troy Bakers work that changed the way I felt about voice acting. Gave me a whole new appreciation for the amount of passion somebody can cram into their voice.Yepp, Troy Baker gets his own post. Well deserved. :)Also, today in history Pearl Harbor should be remembered. December 7th, 1941.-Safiree

Friday, December 6, 2013

It isn't too often I read something in which inspires me to think endless. It also isn't often I read something which inspired me in such ways and it contained the word "HALO" within it. Yes I know it is quite weird. Gosu even with his name which could use some work has provided me and therefore I will provide to you the same piece for this week's Reader Post.

This has been an issue that I have been looking forward to writing about. I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a doozy, as it requires a ridiculously thorough evaluation in order to properly tackle. Unfortunately, I've yet to read anything that has truly nailed what Endgame is, how to implement it properly and why it will work.

What is Endgame?

In case you don't know(which I'm sure most if not all of you do), Endgame describes the list of options available to a player who has reached a point in a game in which the initial game experience has come to an end. This "end" is often somewhat arbitrarily defined by both players and game developers. One thing that MUST be understood is that Endgame does not mean the same thing to every player. When a player claims to have participated in Endgame content, they are simply saying(whether or not they realize it) that something about the game has convinced them to continue devoting time to it after having reached the climax of the"initial game experience" as identified by a consensus of players and/or developers. No game can definitively contain desirable Endgame for ALL players.

I would argue that most people look at Endgame much like they would look at something like astronauts floating around on a space station, orbiting Earth. Yes you read that correctly. People can fairly easily identify WHEN this is happening just by common observation. Many people would also insist that they know WHY it's happening and what makes it work. ZERO GRAVITY RIGHT? Unfortunately, most people actually have no idea what is causing it to work.

Endgame is no different. After you've spent 1000 hours participating in "Endgame" content, you're fully aware that something has caused you to spend an inordinate amount of time playing a video game(you can see that it's working). But what EXACTLY was the cause, and why were so many other people doing exactly the same thing?

In order to incorporate lasting and enjoyable Endgame into a game we must first explore some other successful Endgames and attempt to identify why and how THEY worked. Below I have compiled a list of games which I've spent ridiculous amounts of time playing. I'm going to cover each game very briefly and explain what caused me to spend so much time playing it.

World of Warcraft - Estimated game time: 15,000 hours.

Dota/Heroes of Newerth/Dota2 - Estimated game time: 6,000 hours.

Warcraft 3 - Estimated game time: 3,000 hours.

All Guitar Hero games - Estimated game time: 2,000 hours.

Halo: Combat Evolved - Estimated game time: 1,800 hours.

Final Fantasy X - Estimated game time: 500 hours

WoW: The study of WoW's effect on the human brain(especially mine) is one of absolute importance when attempting to discover how Endgame is born. Please hold back your anti-WoW comments. It doesn't matter if you love WoW, or hate it more than hipsters hate fitting in. WoW, at one point or another, did one thing better than any other game I have ever played: it made you CONSTANTLY feel like there was a reason you just HAD to play it. I NEEDED to have the best gear. I NEEDED to be in the best guild. I NEEDED to get server first kills. I NEEDED to do the best DPS. I NEEDED to show off my achievements. There was always a means to an end. There were clear and numerous goals that each felt great to accomplish. Every time I logged on I felt a reason to play. WoW is a goal-factory, and one thing that CANNOT be underestimated is the fact that even the goals that felt like work were accomplished with great satisfaction, perhaps even BECAUSE they felt like work. On top of all of this, WoW is a social beast. I never felt as if I was the only person playing the game.

Dota/HoN: Obviously a PVP focused game, Dota is responsible for claiming many hours of my life. What exactly caused me to invest so much time into it? Goals are again the culprit. I must learn this new hero. I must perfect this farming method. I must try out this new lane comp. I must beat this pro team. I must become the best player out of all my friends. I must learn how to play carry. I must try out this new item build I've been thinking about. Dota teaches us that, once the formula for enjoyable gameplay exists, the presence of desirable goals will force us to continue playing.

Warcraft 3: By now I image you're starting to see a pattern in the games I have listed. Well, WC3 is no different. The formula for enjoyable gameplay was there so what, I ask you, keeps someone engaged in the game? Perhaps you want to perfect a new rush strategy, maybe you just want to learn the basics of every race? You want to try out a CUBE strategy with a friend? Or maybe you just want to beat that new TD that everyone is saying is so hard. Hell, maybe you're just bored and you want to pop into a quick 1v1 for an easy win. Whatever it may have been, the game was fun and I was eager to continue achieving within it.

Guitar Hero: This one highlights the point I am trying to nail home better than any other game on the list. The formula for enjoyable gameplay is ALWAYS the first step. Check. But would I have put thousands of hours into a game just because it made me feel like a rock star? HELL NAW. Guitar Hero is one of the few games that almost immediately become goal-oriented. I must play all the songs, I must beat this song on medium, I must beat all songs on expert, I must 5-star all songs on expert, I must get top worldwide score on this song.,, The game quickly becomes less about the feeling you get because you're "playing" music, and more about the thought of achieving something. At this point, the core gameplay is simply a well-tuned car that will help you win the race. Because we all know that, while the driving is fun, it doesn't compare to the thrill of victory and yet, we couldn't have achieved victory without it!

Halo: Combat Evolved: This game is opposite to Guitar Hero in many ways, yet the end result is the exact same. Halo is the PERFECT example of a game that 100% perfected an enjoyable gameplay formula. With Halo, Bungie created a formula that continues to last in many ways to this very day. The key difference between a game like Halo and a game like Guitar Hero is that, for the most part, goals in Halo are not so easily identified. Halo is a PERFECT example of a game that excellently facilitates player-defined goals, as opposed to most games that simply lay them out for you clearly. I spent countless hours replaying every level on Legendary with my buddy not just to beat the level again, but to discover new secrets, unreachable areas, new methods of tackling the more challenging areas, or pummeling him in a variety of meta-games that we created on our own. Then there was competitive multiplayer. I could go on for hours about the genius that was the original Halo multiplayer but I think we've covered Halo enough.

Final Fantasy X: By now the pattern should be quite clear, so this will be the last game I cover. I put this game on the list because it serves as a great example that, for many people, all it takes is ONE solid goal to keep someone playing for hundreds of hours. For me, that goal was the the Monster Arena. I was absolutely determined to unlock EVERY boss. This is where the genius of the system enters... In order to unlock and defeat every boss, your team required a set of items that basically forced you to experience EVERYTHING the game had to offer in order to acquire them. Oh Blitzball how I miss thee. And lets not forget farming monsters to capture all over the game world. So while the grind to achieving this goal occasionally bored me to tears, achieving the goal still stands as one of my most memorable and enjoyable gaming experiences to date.

This is an INCREDIBLY important thing to remember and, unfortunately, a very difficult thing to preserve. Players LOVE to complain about grinds, just as I LOVE to complain about RL work. The important thing to remember is that a grind can exist as a form of a challenge.

It's not just because you're glad the work is over, it's because you've proven to yourself that you could overcome any means to the end you desire . This isn't to say that developers should simply insert grinds where they don't belong. Grinds CANNOT substitute quality gameplay or challenges where they can and should exist. However, a quality game experience CAN be derived, in part, from appropriate levels of grind.

So what have we learned from our observations of other games?

Endgame is created when the goals found in the initial game experience are perpetuated past the "climax" of said experience, in some form. As humans we strive to prove things to ourselves and others, even if the achievements/goals have little actual meaning outside a particular perspective. In order for Endgame to fully exist in a game, it MUST follow the below formula.

-Provide enjoyable initial and ongoing core gameplay experience

-Create a gameplay formula that can facilitate an enjoyable means to any player-created end (Halo)

-Create a supreme level of achievement that signifies having conquered every single-player aspect of the game(Final Fantasy X)

-Create achievements that are only achievable by those who have proven themselves superior in both skill and knowledge(WoW)

-Create a system that allows for infinite achievement via player competition and variety (WC3/Dota)

-Create a system that allows players to demonstrate their accomplishments to other players

-Combine them all together (WoW)

Some of you might be thinking, "Gosu is nothing more than a WoW-loving sycophant with a small wiener", and you may be right. However, I urge you to accept that, at one point or another, WoW achieved what it achieved because it is one of the only games in existence to have featured every facet of the above formula. You could argue that it applied some of these formulae better than others, or even that it didn't do any of them. But guess what, only the majority can speak for the majority, and the majority have spoken whether you agree with them or not. WoW has provided millions of players with hours of enjoyable gameplay at some point in its lifespan. When millions of players have spent so many hours playing a game, you can bet good money that there was an incredibly diverse pool of gamers participating. So while WoW's style of game content might not appeal to everyone, it absolutely goes without question that it did SOMETHING right at SOME point.

For anecdotal purposes, I would argue that WoW's greatest downfall was the fact that it's developers had to continue to improve upon elements of the massive game all while maintaining each of these formulae. This is all due to the nature of WoW's collective endgame. The content was not self-extending past a certain point, nor could it have been much more than it already was. I'll say it now in case it wasn't already clear: PVP is the ONLY thing that can extend a game beyond its natural lifespan. Whether it be PVPVE or just plain PVP, only a competitive community can create opportunities for other players to create goals out of thin air at some point in the game's lifespan. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep all of these things in some sort of balance while also trying to constantly add new content, features and gameplay styles/modes? Let me tell you something; you don't want to know, and I DON'T know... - end South Park reference

So really it's not always about having something to do, it's about having a reason to do it.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

When you thought EA couldn't do anything else to piss you of they find a way to do it. One of the best features ever added to EA sports games and been removed from the current generation. Guest Play. Let's be honest if you have played EA sports games you know that the single player is a season is some form or another which is the same every time. Why? Because the actual sport doesn't change from year to year that much. So most of the fun was playing with someone else. This changed when online play became a thing and you were then able to play against others all around the world and was made even better when guest play was introduced. You could play with that buddy of yours in the same room against another pair of people online. It made the online experience that much more fun.

Sadly those days appear to be coming to an end. In the current generation FIFA game this feature has been removed. You are no longer able to play with someone else in the guest play online mode. Why? Well EA has been pretty quiet on this subject but it really comes down to money. They don't want people playing the most played feature, which is online play for free. Essentially they don't like that buddy of yours sitting in your room somewhere not having paid for their game playing online for free. This is a way to force them to get their copy if they want online play.

EA wants you to be anti social so they can make more money off their audience. When I was a kid there was not many things better than playing some games with my friends when I got older doing so online made it even more fun. Part of the reason people still play consoles over PCs is you can play with others in the same room. How long till they remove this? You may think that is nuts but removing one of the most played features out of greed seemed pretty crazy to me also.

EA keeps giving me more and more reasons to not support them and its sad because they really were one of my favourites when I was growing up. Crazy how times change.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Hey hey! Middle of the week start of December and way too many people have Christmas lights up. Maybe it is not the Christmas lights that bother me but those mammoth lawn blow up things of random Christmas things. I guess I should be happy that people still think it is "correct" to actually put up Christmas lights I can only imagine some places you cannot celebrate your holiday publicly because it would happen to offend someone. Anyways off topic. It's Wednesday which means I have to put some sort of top 5 list thing together. So what is going on this week? Well I decided to go with my top unexpected things which have happened in games to me. Now obviously there will be spoilers hear so keep that in mind and don't say all sorts of crap about how I ruined the game. You were warned.

5. Samus Is A Girl - Metroid

Let's face it in this day in age this wouldn't be much of a shocker. Back then though when you were jumping around shooting random things in the epic side-scrolling game with horrible jumping mechanics which made you rage it was. I was always assumed and maybe wrongfully Samus was in fact a guy. It was to be expected of games of the day. So when the credits ended and the helmet was removed and you see her well it was quite the shock.

4. Ethan Mars Cuts off his Finger - Heavy Rain

Here you are desperately trying to find your son. To save your son from this crazy Origami killer. You have done countless things already which were to the point of insanity and you finally think you are getting somewhere when this happens. You are told you must cut off your finger. Sure it can happen in many different ways but in the end the finger is gone and you actually do it. The whole time I was thinking this wasn't actually going to happen. Something is going to stop this but he did it. He truly would do anything for his son.

3. James Killed His Wife - Silent Hill

Not only is this game on a whole new level of creepy and insane but there is this women who you see die over and over again and you are wondering what the hell is going on. Every time she has no recollection of the previous time you just saw her die. This all comes to the end when you find out James has gone nuts and he killed his wife and this is why this "thing" has been going on the entire time. Ya a messed up finished to an especially messed up game.

2. Joker Dies - Arkham City

You see Batman really isn't Batman without the Joker. Without the Joker who is Batman really? There is the moment when Batman is holding the antidote in his hand and he is thinking if he is going to give it to him. You know for story purposes that he has to think about it but in the end he is not going to kill him and is going to give it to him. Then of course the vial breaks and he no longer can give it to him The Joker dies... Then this seen where super hero is carrying the super villain out just on a whole new level. This actually happened you are watching it and yet you still cannot believe it.

1. Aerith Death - FFVII

There are moments in gaming you will never forget. Sure this is a moment in which has been talked about in gaming forever and probably will go on being talked about forever. This moment was iconic gamers and non gamers alike know of this moment that was the shock this caused. Sure I didn't like playing her as a character but when it happened you were still wowed how a main character could just be killed off not even half way into the game.

There you go my what the hell just happened moments. What did you think? Any you think should be on here?